Is it Friday yet?

This week has been VERY informative, VERY jam packed, and VERY overwhelming. Adding to all of that, courtesy of my student teaching seminars, I have begun training to Run the Bluegrass with my sister in March. MAN! I really should have laid off the sweets this Holiday season! I am sore and feeling like a big ol' fatty. Not to mention, I CAN'T STAND running on the treadmill! However, this week I have had no choice. It's getting dark so early and the weather has been really yucky this week with lots of rain (I'm not a fan of chafing, so I prefer to avoid rainy day runs). So, as the week is creeeeeeping by...I am SUPER ready for Friday and to student teach already! The image below is a PERFECT example of how I am currently feeling about my training/exercise regimen.

Alive & Well in the New Year!

HaPpY nEw YeAr!!!

Yes, I have not posted in QUITE a while.  No, I have not fallen off the face of the Earth (thank you, Lord!). Although, I have been EXTREMELY busy!  Here is a quick little update:

-I've passed (Praise Jesus) ALL 6 of my Praxis II exams!  Whoop! Whoop!

-This past Fall (2012), I had to petition to take 18 hours in order to complete my coursework so that I could   (fingers crossed) student teach in the Spring (2013).  My petition was approved and I (Praise Jesus, again) survived through the stress of 18 hours + working part time.  

-I have successfully completed all of my undergrad coursework at UTC as well as my graduate level classes.

-I HAVE ACHIEVED MY GOAL OF ALL As FOR ALL OF MY COURSEWORK AT UTC!!! (As you can tell, I have a LOT to praise Jesus for so, PRAISE JESUS!)

-My application for student teaching was accepted! :)

-I let my sister talk me into signing up to run a half marathon with her (March 2013...as for this one...HELP me, Jesus!). 

So, now that you are fairly caught up, I can tell you that today was the first day of the Spring 2013 semester at UTC.  That means that it was the first day of week + 1 days worth of seminars to prepare me for student teaching (I report next Tuesday to my first placement)!  AH!  I couldn't even tell you how many people have asked me when I would know where I'll be placed.  Well, NOW I KNOW!  I will complete 2 placements.  My first placement will be at McConnell Elementary School in a 1st grade classroom (SUPER excited...especially because a friend from my legal assistant days has a son in 1st grade at that school!  Fingers crossed that I will be placed with his teacher.) and my second placement will be at Orchard Knob Elementary School in a PreK classroom.  I found out today (while researching these schools) that a young lady I had a graduate level class with this past semester teaches Kindergarten at OKES.  So cool!  So, while I am a bit overwhelmed with an overload of information from today's seminar and the thought of beginning my thesis oh. so. soon., I believe that keeping up with this blog from here on out will keep me grounded and act as a journal of my student teaching experiences in the next 4ish months.  Wish me luck!

Source: knittingparadise.com via Katie on Pinterest

Look what I made!

So, I'm taking an overload of courses this summer and I've about lost my mind.  However, it means that I will likely be student teaching in the Spring.  THAT is what keeps me going.  So far...all As baby!  HOORAY!  Well, I'm taking a math class online this summer.  It's geometry for elementary school teachers. If you know me you know that I am NOT a mathematician to say the least.  Especially when I have to rely on my self-teaching abilities like I do in this online course.  However, there are certain aspects of this course that I'm actually enjoying.  This past week I took a pile of free newspapers from the hotel I stayed at for my friend Emily's bachelorette weekend and turned my fingers black making a geodome...you know, like the thing at Epcot in Disney World?  While I was not thrilled with the amount of papers it took and the process was tedious, I enjoyed the result and I think it was sturdy enough that my nephew could have and would have enjoyed playing in it.  I'm thinking about making another one day and then painting and embellishing it.  Perhaps with my future students?  Well, we'll see.  So, here it is from beginning to end-kind of.  Made it with newspaper, tape, and staples.  What do you think?

Fore!

Brent was given the opportunity to play golf at Sawgrass yesterday with his dad and a customer.  I took this picture from my father-in-law's Facebook page this morning.  Brent said it was definitely a challenge (Check out that green placement!), but what lucky guys, eh?  Perhaps they'll take along their lovely wives next time?  HA!

Look what I made!

I bought an 'H' from Hobby Lobby (I could spend DAYS in there!), some moss in a baggie and some lovely ribbon to make this for our front door.  It was so easy!  I just hot glued the moss to the 'H', made a bow and glued it on and then glued some more ribbon on to hang it from.  LOVE it and it can stay up for a LONG time! YAY!

I made this dinosaur for the Preschool 2 class at the Children's Center.  It is life-sized...6ft tall!  Raaar!

I made this door decor for the PreK up classroom at the Children's Center.  Our center is open all summer, so they needed something appropriate to leave up for the summer. If you can't tell, it is an ant eating a watermelon.  The kids names are written in the seeds of the watermelon and the banner that the ants are holding near the title says, "UTC PreK Rocks!"

A dinner I made and LOVED!  Bacon wrapped green beans...oh yes!  Weight Watchers twice baked potato...uh huh!  Steak...but of course (this was made by Brent because I do not trust myself with the grill).  Thanks Pinterest!

May

So, I've nearly missed the month of May.  HEY!  I've been a little busy! Brent & I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on May 7th with a trip to Charleston, SC.  I had never been, but I loved it!  It's a beautiful place, the weather was great, we spent one afternoon at the beach, we walked a ton (as evidenced by the blisters I had on my feet from wearing the wrong shoes the first day---had to buy flip flops while we were out), and we ate WAAAAY too much!  For a girl who LOVES her some shrimp and grits, Charleston is the place to be!  We took along our frozen top layer of wedding cake, let it thaw out on the car ride there, asked our hotel for some utensils and tried a bit after dinner the night of our anniversary.  We were not expecting much when it came to taste because we have heard most married couples say that their saved cake tasted terrible, BUT it was GOOD!  Really, REALLY GOOD!  I was beyond excited because I did NOT get my fill of it on our wedding day.  I was too busy dancing!  I cannot believe that we have already been married for over a year!  It surely has flown by.  I'm happy as I've ever been and I owe it all to my best friend/husband, Brent.  He truly is too good to me and I couldn't ask for more!

After our anniversary getaway, I started my first session of summer school.  I was dreading it for sure because it was also the beginning of my graduate school courses (up until now I have been taking what they call "bridging coursework" or undergrad classes in the education field to catch me up).  However, so far I have received an A on everything I have submitted and besides the LARGE amount of reading I have to do, I have found grad school easier than undergrad!  WHOA!  We'll see if that lasts, of course.  I'm working hard, regardless, to keep up my 4.0GPA.  I'm actually not minding all of the reading when I can do a lot of it while laying in the sun at the pool or in my backyard with a nice frosty beverage in hand ;)

In addition to summer school, I received the results for two of the PRAXIS II exams that I took at the end of April...PASSED!  WHOOP! WHOOP!  You can ask my husband, I did a little dance when I opened the results.  Now, I only have 4 more to complete--2 of which I will take on June 9th.  Wish me luck!

Our wedding rings and my hanky

Our self portrait taken in our hotel room on our 1st anniversary--this was probably #1,004,599.  Yes, we did have someone else take a photo of us while we were out, but this is more "us". 

Our top tier after 1 year!

One of my favorites from our wedding day-thanks to our wonderful friend and photographer, Blair Zirnheld Schwarz!

It's 8pril!

Tomorrow night marks the NCAA Championship game: Kentucky vs. Kansas.
My Wildcats pulled off a win against Louisville last night and I could not have been more excited! So, in celebration of it all I decided to make a little something to hang up in our house. I'm doing all I can to support my Wildcats here in Chattanooga while my husband is right in the middle of all the action in NOLA! GO CATS!